Bloody brakes...

Buy a Gunsons eesibleed, way, way easier.

Oh, I *do* like the look of that :) Where's the cheapest place to order one in?

Hellraiser...........>

different people have differant methods, so here is my way after fitting the pipe and topping up the reservior, open up the bleed nipple(beware it does not shear off) on that side and wait for the fluid to drip out then tighten up the nipple then get somebody to sit inside and press the brake pedal (when you say). Now using a bleed bottle(i use a plastic bottle with vaccum pipe sticking out-one end goes to the nipple- the other is submerged in the brake fliud thats half full inside the bottle) open the nipple up and watch for air bubbles coming out while the person is repeatly -but slowly pressing the brake pedal,once the air bubbles stop and only fliud comes out then tighten. repeat on ALL nipples. also make sure the reservior is topped up during this process.

...happened to my wife in an Uno about thirteen years ago and she sailed through a set of lights on red at a cross road. She rang me up in floods of tears and left it on a central reservation. Its front flexi hose had perished. I had to console her and make her drive my car home whilst I followed behind using only the handbrake. I would not recommend doing it, I just happened to live 4 miles away up a constant gradient hill and had another car of my own to tail behind.

You should be able to do it with a cheap 'one-man' kit , but the thing that has promtped me to post is the fact you are only buying ONE new hose. You might want to just sort out the offending hose to get you home, but FFS make sure you at least replace the other side PDQ , and maybe even the fronts. If one has perished then the others will not be far behind.

And start using an MoT tester that isn't blind.

Well, it was MOT'd about 9 months ago so can't really blame him, and the hose looks fine it is leaking where the rubber goes into the metal end piece. The fronts have already been done, got the receipt from Kwik Fit from previous owner, same fault :)

Hellraiser.............>

The old tried and trusted method, and the one I was taught, but it does make it a 2 man job. Maybe you forgot, but I was taught to always tighten the bleed nipple on the downward stroke of the pedal. IOW whilst the clean fluid is still coming out of the bleed pipe. Mike.

Oh well, I take it back then. Sounds like a s**te batch of brake hoses.

But don't all modern cars have split systems to prevent just this total loss of braking should a leak develop? Diagonally opposite pairs and all that?

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Flash saying something like:

In theory, yes. The second circuit should still work, but the pedal goes almost to the floor before it does, giving rise to a sinking feeling.

Shite design, imo.

I've had a total brake failure on a ShiteOldRenault that supposedly had twin circuit brakes that didn't work too well. No sinking feeling, just swerving round the car in front and hoping the ped on the crossing wasn't actually about to appear in front of me.